There’s was a lot of uncertainty of how Micah’s birth was going to turn out. The main question was: would the doctor really allow me to have a VBAC, or would she end up pushing for C-section. There are very few stories of successful VBACS (vaginal birth after c-section) in Cambodia. I, for one, never felt completely at ease about having our baby in Cambodia. During the last weeks especially, I was really wishing I could be in Bangkok with my doctor there. But this was God’s good will for our lives. As the due date grew closer, I grew more anxious. And I was not looking forward to the pain in childbirth!

Sunday night, November 15, I began to have back contractions very similar to the ones I had had the week before. I had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for the next morning, November 16, at 8:30 and thought it was great timing. I thought I was sleeping in between the contractions, and I was too tired and lazy to time anything, but I should have realized that it wasn’t that far into the night. I got up to use the bathroom, and my water broke — it wasn’t much, but I knew the doctor said my fluid was low (my water broke with Clara seconds before she was born). Then my body started getting ready for pushing a baby out and I knew that the time was truly at hand. The problem was I was stuck in the bathroom, with all those feelings of transition: nausea, hot and sweaty, etc. I lay down on the bathroom floor and waited until I felt better, then I made my way back into the room to wake up Josh.

Josh woke up to find me kneeling next to the bed and he sprang into action. The first thing he did was go downstairs to the 1st floor and wake Dr. K and his wife C, a veteran missionary couple who were staying at the guesthouse that weekend. When we talked to them earlier in the weekend, we had joked about their helping with the birth. They told us to get them up at any time.

Josh came back up and we moved into an empty room across the hall so the kids wouldn’t be disturbed. Dr. K checked me and I was at a 7 or 8. He really wanted to take me to the hospital, so he went to change clothes while I knelt at the bed. His wife, C (who is also a nurse), put a cold washcloth on my neck. She could tell I didn’t really want to go anywhere and also seemed to think I had progressed too far to make a trip to the hospital. When the doctor returned his wife told him she didn’t think I wanted to go — so then we needed to make the decision. To go or not to go, that was the question! I didn’t want to have our baby in the car, which looked like a distinct possibility. Nor was I too keen about a hospital birth. Dr. K really wanted to take me, but when he said they would have to carry me down three flights of stairs, I was thinking, No way! So we decided to have our baby in Room #8 of the C&MA Family Home.

Things happened pretty fast after that. My friend Ayra, who lives at the Bible school a couple meters behind the guesthouse, found alcohol and some other supplies at the school. The towels that had been given to us “just in case” by the guesthouse manager were spread all over the bed. Document clips were obtained to clamp the cord. And I’m pretty sure Dr. K washed his hands and the clips 100 times!

After a few pushes, out popped Micah. In the middle of my last push Dr. K told me to “hold it” — not what you want to hear in the middle of pushing. It seemed like a long time before he told me to go ahead, but I’m sure it was only seconds. That pause kept me from having any tears, which I’m very thankful for! There was a little concern about clearing out the baby’s lungs and getting him breathing, but he was fine. Dr. K was very concerned about me hemorrhaging. The placenta was delivered and we got ready to go to the hospital. Dr. K carried me down the stairs.

I found myself laughing — another guesthouse baby! Josh had once joked that he knew it was my secret plan to not go to the hospital and have another guesthouse baby. I told him I wouldn’t do that to him again. But this time Josh didn’t have to deliver and said he felt completely relaxed once the doctor took over. Funny — Clara was delivered in the Bangkok C&MA Family Home. Micah in the Phnom Penh C&MA Family Home. Each was the first birth in that particular Family Home. Guess we need to find another guesthouse in another country to christen!

Once at the hospital we were put in the ER. The pediatrician on call was very concerned that Micah had been born in a non-sterile environment and that his cord had been clamped with document clips. I felt bad for the guy. Micah ended up being put on two antibiotics via IV. He had to have his port in for about three days — our poor baby kept whacking himself with the splint. I was given one run of antibiotics as well.

The hospital staff was very nice. An ObGyn came three times a day to check on me, and a pediatrician came three times a day to check on Micah. We were there Monday till Thursday.

Reflections: I couldn’t have asked for a better birth. It was something I couldn’t plan (home-births are technically illegal in Cambodia), but it was just like I would have planned. I didn’t have to be at a hospital with people I didn’t know. I didn’t have to have unnecessary medical interventions or mediations. I was able to do most of my labor in bed, while I thought I was sleeping. One of the best things was that I had a sweet medical missionary couple deliver our baby. I really like this couple. They have five children of their own. Their youngest is a 17 year old girl. They home schooled their kids. The last baby Dr. K delivered was his own daughter 17 years ago. It was so nice to have Christian, native English speakers deliver our baby who have so much in common with us. Dr. K and his wife C visited us at the hospital the day after Micah was born. Sidenote – Dr. K & C’s first grandchild was born a few days before Micah – they had the same due date. They weren’t able to be in America for his birth, but they were able to deliver an MK baby together.

After six births — all different — I still don’t know when it’s time to go to the hospital. 🙂 I’m very glad that I was able to have another “home birth.” Very thankful that Micah was born without any medical complications. Thankful that I didn’t have any complications. Thankful!

In closing I want to include Dr. K’s write up on the birth, which he wrote for his prayer letter update.

C and I had to make a run all the way down to Phnom Penh (a 9 hour drive for us). We stayed at the Alliance guest house. The only other guests were a missionary family with 5 small kids. They were expecting their 6^th child within a week or two, and had come in from where they lived in the countryside in order to be within a 20 minute drive of the Cambodian hospital for delivery. When C and I arrived, the husband – a friend of mine – quipped that he was glad I was going to be in the guest house for a few days, just in case the baby came too fast for them to make it to the hospital. I laughed, but knew that that would never happen.

 A couple nights later, at 0300 AM, you guessed it, a loud knocking at our door awoke us from a deep sleep. Turned out that things had developed quite suddenly and that they didn’t think she’d make it to the hospital. (BTW, she had had two prior C-sections, and absolutely needed to deliver in a controlled, safe hospital environment where a C-section could be done within minutes).  With no other option, we decided to assist in a MacGyver home delivery. I found two strong paper clamps and a pair of office scissors to handle the cord. We had clean towels but no boiling water (isn’t that what they always ask for in the movies?). In a nutshell, she delivered after only 2 pushes. A healthy baby boy! We got momma and baby to the hospital, where, after a non-eventful inpatient experience, they were released back to the guest house 3 days later. May God use that baby boy in His service, just as his parents have done.

History day last week included the coronation parade of Queen Elizabeth. We had to do it three times, since we had three queens. And of course, we had to give the boys a ride too! 🙂

This picture was taken 8 days before Micah was born. When I was almost 39 weeks pregnant.

2020 – I think I knew almost as soon as Micah was growing inside, but in mid-March I began to seriously suspect that we were expecting our 6th child, it was right around the time Covid blew up in the States and Cambodia closed down churches and schools. I was hoping to avoid telling Josh until his birthday, but he asked before.

We had no idea back then how Covid would effect our birthing plans, but as things started to progress, I began to suspect that traveling to Thailand would not be an option this time. This led to a lot of research on birthing options in Cambodian. Our first two children were born by c-section. Even though I’d had three following births vaginally, many doctors would still require a c-section to avoid risk of uterine rupture. My desire was to avoid a c-section and find a doctor who wouldn’t require regular appointment (we live over 9 hours from Phnom Penh).

I finally chose a Khmer doctor in Phnom Penh who had a great reputation for working with foreigners and for promoting nature childbirth. We traveled in July to have an appointment with her to ask if she would be willing to allow me to have a VBAC. Thankfully, Dr. Li (pronounced Lee), was very agreeable to my having a natural childbirth, since I’d had three VBACS before. She seemed to have the attitude that this was my 6th child and I was an expert.

Dr. Li wanted me to come back in two months for a follow-up ultrasound. Not wanting to drag my family down to PP, I asked if we could skip the ultrasound and just show up at the beginning of November. The doctor explained she wanted to recheck a measurement in the brain. At the moment the area was measuring in the normal range (7mm with a normal range of 5-10mm). But she was concerned that in a few months it would be out of the normal range. After asking many questions to find out what would be done if the measurement exceeded the normal range, Dr Li finally told me that some people would not want a baby who had learning difficulties and possible seizures. Once I told her we would keep our baby no matter what, she said we could wait until November to come back.

We announced our 6th child once we had all our birthing plans in place. I told my mom on my 38th birthday. Interestingly enough – my mom gave birth to her 6th child on her 38th birthday.

Fast forward to September 1st – Josh and I were going away for the night while some friends watched our kids. We decided to get an ultrasound on the way ($5!). While there the doctor misunderstood us when we told him we didn’t want to know the gender and went on and on about how we were having a boy! Then he asked if the doctor in PP had told us about the problem in the brain. He said there was an enlarged area but that it looked like a slight problem – he called it hydrocephalus and proceeded to show us pictures and act out seizures. Very unsettling. Not the way we wanted to spent our getaway. The doctor said the problem might go away. So we just put that information aside and enjoyed our time together. Trying not to stress about it.

Once we returned home, I did lots of research and contacted a friend who is a pediatrician. She told us not to worry too much. What we needed was the exact measurement to know if there truly was a concern and how great the concern was (would there just be learning disabilities or would our child need brain surgery and a shunt for life). Five days later we returned to the doctor and asked for the measurement. The area measured around a 9mm. Very thankful. And I decided I was done with having ultrasounds up where we live by doctors who have had very little training. It’s very stressful to receive concerning information without all the data. They do their best up here with the training they have.

I had a pretty normal pregnancy – with afternoon and evening sickness that lasted all three trimesters. I started feeling Micah move around 12 weeks. Braxton Hicks started around 20 weeks. Due to my age the medical world classified me as a geriatric pregnancy, which I found really funny. Yes, I was tired and achey, more so than my earlier pregnancies, but I’m not sure what made the bigger difference – being older or having five other children to care for. The world does not stop for pregnant women. But it did! Church was cancelled. Bible Club was cancelled. Visits to Ban Lung were cancelled. Teaching the ladies Bible leaders was cancelled. Basically – everything was cancelled due to Covid for most of my pregnancy. All those cancellations were a relief to my tried pregnant body. I don’t know how I would have been able to keep up with our normal schedule.

We got to PP on Friday evening, November 6th. Our plans was to arrive the weekend before, but we found out the doctor was not available until the next week. Two nights later I had a lot of back contractions and we ended up going to the doctor Sunday morning for an early appointment, instead of Monday. Which ended up working out better, since the doctor wasn’t going to be in on Monday and we hadn’t been told yet. Had a great ultrasound with all measurements looking normal. I was dilated 2cm and the doctor had me do 30 minutes of contraction monitoring. She talked about admitting me, but I told her I didn’t think the baby would be coming in the next few days and I was sure I had time to go home (indeed I did, since he didn’t come for another week). I loved her response, “A mother usually knows her body best, but as a doctor I have to just check.” So after I did the monitoring – they let me go home. I only had one good contraction during that time and the worse part was having to be on my back!

And so the PP waiting began. Unfortunately, during that time. Cambodia had its first community Covid transmission in Phnom Penh, so we didn’t venture out a lot on outings. But we had a great time fellowshipping with others at the CMA guesthouse. Next week I hope to write about Micah’s birth.

Last week Micah celebrated his two month birthday! Love this little sweet man!

When I went to take this picture I found that Ezra was way ahead of Micah concerning neck strength. I had a very hard time trying to get Micah to lift his head. He just wanted to suck on his arms. And you can see at two months, Micah is our smallest boy.

Here’s a comparison with all six.

So right now I think Micah looks most like Clara, but often it just depends on the angle.

Happy to have Micah and all his siblings. Happy for the health God has given them all.

Our Christmas season started out a little different this year, since we didn’t arrive home from Micah’s birth until December 8th. We did begin our carol singing in Phnom Penh. During the month of December we sing Christmas carols and songs every night. Each night a different child (including Ezra) gets to light and blow out the Advent candles. Each person gets to pick a song for us all to sing – favorites this year were Go Tell it on the Mountain, We Three Kings, and Carol of the Bells.

On Friday, December 11th, we had our Christmas decorating party, complete with hotdogs and beans.

We had our traditional countdown calendar. One day featured playing with fake snow and a Christmas village. That was a big hit for all.

We did our traditional giant personalized gingerbread people cookies. Ezra mostly ate his decorations while putting them on. We all agreed that this year had the best looking people-cookies ever.

We decided to pass out Christmas fruit bags to our neighbors the day after Christmas, instead of Christmas Eve this year. This was a big help to me, since I didn’t have to try fitting in all the food preparations and visiting all our neighbors into the day before Christmas. Christmas Eve we had our traditional taco meal and had hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls for dessert while we sang carols, and then we watched the Muppets Christmas Carol (I mostly dozed during it – mom of newborn!).

Christmas Day we had a breakfast of pancakes with syrup and bacon. Then our guests arrived and we had cinnamon rolls and the kids did their Christmas pageant before our lunch meal.

It was a lovely Christmas season – so thankful for our six children. Micah’s first Christmas. Thankful for my man who journeys along with me. Sadly, we didn’t get our traditional “couple” Christmas picture before I took the tree down. Guess that’s what happens when you have six kids and one is a newborn. Next year. Thankful for a wonderful month celebrating Christ coming to save us from our sins.

Side note – our Church’s normal Christmas celebration services were cancelled due to Covid. They instead gathered in groups in a few homes to celebrate.

This past Monday, Micah celebrated his 7-week birthday by getting his US passport! We made a trip to Phnom Penh to pick up his passport and work on his Cambodian visa. Unfortunately, with the border crossing required for a 1-year visa and all the Covid-19 tests and quarantines, we were unable to secure his visa. The Department of Immigration told us to wait a few months and see if the situation changes. So we continue to pray that God will provide the right visa for Micah without requiring that we leave the country and return.

In other exciting news, Micah started smiling last week and since then has been getting quite good at it. He also started making coo-ing noises. It’s so sweet and makes him even more lovable! Also – his eyelashes have gotten longer, the hair on the top of his head has started growing, and it looks like he’s going to keep his blue eyes.

Thanksgiving Day (November 26) was Becca’s 11th birthday. This year we did not have a big neighborhood party, since we were in Phnom Penh for Micah’s birth. Instead we celebrated with friends in Phnom Penh.

Thankfully, Micah was born 10 days before Becca’s birthday, so it didn’t interfere too much with Becca’s day. She still had a two week birthday countdown calendar with a baby brother as one of the gift days! We fit in her birthday sleep-over before Micah was born. Our night included playing games, doing facials, and looking at pictures from Becca’s 11 years. We rented a room in the guesthouse where we were staying and Josh bought us a lovely breakfast in bed in the morning.

Since we were in Phnom Penh, we were able to enroll Becca in a four-week horsemanship class with an international school in the area. It was such a blessing that they allowed us to tag along, even though we had no direct connections with the school. The lessons were Becca’s main birthday present. We were so delighted she had this opportunity!

Becca invited three family units to join us for her birthday dinner of tacos and fajitas. This year Becca wanted to be involved with decorating her cake. She planned out the design and we worked together at frosting the cake. She was very pleased with how it turned out – tasted good too!

We enjoyed our evening with friends and celebrating Becca’s birthday!

Becca’s birthday was quite different than the Thanksgiving she was born – that day was a day of tears and wondering if our little baby was going to make it, wondering if she would live a normal life, wondering if we’d be able to have more children. This year we celebrate a happy, healthy, gifted young lady who can now share her birthday month with a little brother. We’re so thankful!

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 

⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Thanks be to God!

Last month we traveled to Phnom Penh for Micah’s birth. We packed up our house the first week of November and left our home on the afternoon of November 5th and travel to Stung Treng and spent the evening visiting with our friends. (No pictures from our time there.)

The next day we made the rest of the trip to Phnom Penh and arrived at the CMA Family Home late afternoon. The next evening – Saturday the 7th – we attended the CMA Thanksgiving get together. We had a lovely evening with everyone and enjoyed lots of festive foods.

While in Phnom Penh, our kids were able to take daily Khmer lessons with some friends of ours. We are very thankful for this opportunity they had for about four weeks. Anna was able to spend an afternoon at a Vietnamese school where our friend was teaching the kindergarten class Khmer. Anna loved it!

There were many great things about being in Phnom Penh versus Bangkok for the birth: we saved money (not needing taxis, transportation, visas, food, etc), we knew the language and culture, we’re were able to get lots of errands done (including some needed car repairs and another seatbelt added), and more I can’t think of right now. Our accommodations were perfect – two joining bedrooms with two bathrooms and a kitchen, access to two other kitchens, access to two large common rooms – one of which we could spread out in since there were usually no other guests, plus a large area to play outside. The staff was lovely. The ladies were so helpful and kind to our family and would lend a hand whenever they saw I needed help. They were also very interested in anything I did with Micah and would stop to watch me bathe him, etc.

But the best things of all was being in a place where we knew people and had friends. In Bangkok we knew no one and we’re on our own. In Phnom Penh we had a community of other ministry families – many of whom we didn’t even know that well. I had loads of face-to-face English conversations with other ladies…probably more than I’ve had all year. It was refreshing.

Being at the CMA meant we got to visit with other missionaries passing through. We also got to have a meal with the Whitaker family (pastor of the international church we attended when in Phnom Penh), ending with a Christmas carol/song sing together.

In Phnom Penh, one of my closest friends in Cambodia lived a stone’s throw away from where we were staying and our kids could play almost everyday together. Our girls were so happy to have friends. I was so happy to get extra time with Ayra. We made Christmas cookies together with our kids, chatted, prayed together – I was spoiled. 

The CMA family put together a meal train for us after Micah’s birth and provided us meals for about two weeks – it was amazing! I felt so spoiled. One friend even came and made pizza with the kids. 

To sum it up, we were very blessed by being surrounded by people who are all apart of our family in Christ. We’re so thankful – so blessed. Note – all pictures were taken after Micah’s birth.

One of the last things we did before packing up and moving to Phnom Penh for Micah’s birth was celebrating Cambodian Coronation Day the last week of October. This is our 6th year celebrating and we continue to enjoy the tradition of making crowns, dressing up, and having a coronation service to crown the new Kings and Queens of Cambodia.

Ezra was not into dressing up or getting his picture taken. He did however, join the procession to the coronation and walked quite regally to his throne.

In the evening we had hotdogs, Mac & Cheese, and baked beans. We also celebrated Isaiah’s completion of All About Reading Level 4. He chose Qwerkle as the game of the night – (thank you Whittakers!).

For the first 11 weeks of school we studied birds in science class. We had great fun doing different projects. The kids enjoyed making nests.

We had a great lesson trying to break a chicken egg. After each student had tried two times, Isaiah dropped the egg and it got a tiny crack in it. Becca was out of the room at the time, so we let her try one more time when she came back. The howls of laughter from her siblings when the egg broke was priceless. She also enjoyed being the star of the show.

In case you’re wondering where is Ezra during science class….he’s usually napping. It’s challenging to teaching science when he’s awake. And other times during the day…if he’s not with others, here’s a few snapshots of what you might catch him doing…. (The bucket bath pictures of after supper and always supervised. )

We welcomed Micah Ebenezer Jensen to our family on November 16, 2020. (More details to follow in a later post – I’m a little busy right now!) Thankful.

Today – Thanksgiving Day – we celebrated Becca’s 11th birthday. Becca was a preemie, born on Thanksgiving Day, 2.5 months before her due date in February. Thankful.

Last month, Anna pulled both her top front baby teeth out, within about a week from each other. She pulled her top, front, right tooth out on October 8, 2020. It was her first time to pull out a tooth by herself. One of her bottom ones fell out on it’s own and the other bottom one was pulled by Gloria F. When Anna pulled out her own tooth, she thought it was the Best Day Ever!

On October 15th, 2020 Anna pulled her top, front, left tooth out. She thought it was hilarious! SO brave. We usually don’t even know she’s pulling out her tooth until she’s laughing later on. She’s so cute with her missing teeth!

October 16, 2020 we had a party for Anna & Clara to celebrate their completion of All About Reading Level 1! Our party consisted of each student reading a story from their Vol. 3 book, a presentation of certificates and gifts, and each girl got to choose a game for us all to play together. Anna chose SkipBo, and Clara chose Clue the Card Game.

Teaching reading to Anna & Clara together has been really fun for me. It’s nice to have two students to work with and they are usually the best of friends!

Ezra wasn’t too interested in playing games, so he just read on the couch. Isaiah decided to dress up so he could match Josh.

It was a game-playing day, since earlier in the afternoon we played Querkle.

Usually, Becca watches Ezra during the time I teach the 1st graders. It works great, since Ezra can tag along while Becca brushes her teeth and fixes her hair. But Ezra often escapes and tries to join 1st grade too.

Awhile back I saw it was National Daughter’s Day…with three girls, everyday at our house is daughter’s day. God has blessed us with three beautiful girls ages 10.5 (soon to be 11), 6.5, & 4.5 years old. We have three very fun, creative, crazy girls that each have different personalities. May God give us grace and wisdom to point each one to Christ.

One of my greatest hopes for our children is that they will remain close throughout life. Twenty-some years from now (if the Lord allows us to stay in Cambodia), our children will all be halfway around the world and we’ll be in Cambodia. My hope is that they will be close and the best of friends and will enjoy each other’s company as well as weather the storms life together. I love it when our kids play together and laugh and enjoy one another’s company. I pray they will always do so.

October 2, 2020 we had our performance night for September, since was it was the end of the week. Clara and Anna performed Work, and Hearts are Like Doors, both by Anonymous.

Isaiah performed A Tragic Story by William Makepeace Thackeray. I was most impressed with his improvement the last few days before the performance. He went from being embarrassed to being very confident and expressive. Isaiah also performed a piano piece – the last piece in his method book.

Becca gave a book report on Our of Hiding by Catherine Farnes. Becca also performed two piano pieces. And a highlight was Becca and Isaiah performing their first duet together. They did great!

We added a new performer – Ezra, who performed Eric Carle’s book From Head to Toe. He loves to bow and pretend to say his sister’s poems all the time – but this night he had a little stage fright.

After Josh and I gave book reports, we ended with a play by the Jensen Children entitled Courtship Tips from the Birds. The kids and I came up with the idea during our science lesson about male birds and their attraction techniques. The kids did a great job! We didn’t tell Josh about the play topic and so we could surprise him. He laughed several times, so we knew it was a success!

And now for the video!

After delaying cutting our little man’s hair, October 3, 2020 was the day for his first haircut! Where’s our baby (he’s almost 26 months)? It’s time to get ready to be a big brother!

Ezra was not the most compliant boy for his first haircut. But we survived – with the help of gum, mango, movies, and sprinkles.

Here’s a shot of Isaiah who had his first haircut at 18 months.

As long as we can remember, Anna has loved praying mantises. She loves when they fly into our house and she can catch them. We have seen at least three different colors of praying mantis: green, dark brown/black, and recently an army camouflaged one. (Also note – Anna can now braid her hair by herself.)

These photos capture some of the joy Anna gets from having a praying mantis friend for a time!

This month Ezra’s speech has really taken off. On September 18th he woke up in the morning calling for Mommy and Daddy, and overnight we went from Mama & Dada to our official names. It’s so cute to hear Ezra say two and three word phrases. He’s always making us laugh. Some of our favorites are: Mama, watch me! More, again. Shiver me timbers! Moto ride. Joke! He loves to try to say the poems his sisters are learning and then he bows at the end. It’s amazing to see how his speech has taken off.

We had our second annual celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day this month. It was an exciting day for all. Pirate singing, pirate painting, pirate stories, pirate plays, and hotdogs & beans!

On the eve of our celebration we had a torrential downpour and our gutters (which were way overdue for a cleaning) overflowed into our room…right onto Josh’s sleeping face (our mattress got soaked). We spent 2 hours moving things, cleaning up, and setting up a bed on the floor in our main room to sleep on. We said it was like we had to abandon ship during a storm. The kids slept through it all (even those we were also moving things out of their room too). They woke up to find our “pirate ship” set up on the main room. Exciting start of the day!

In the evening, we had hotdogs and beans – per Ezra’s request. Dessert was lime bars made by Becca. After dinner each of the kids did a show about pirates. Each child used different things for his/her show. Clara used magnatiles and wooden people that Becca painted, Anna used playdough, Isaiah used his family, and Becca used stick people which she painted to look like family members.

We ended the evening watching two episodes from a 1950’s Robin Hood series. Arrrrrr!